Interesting facts: The Franchise started in 1955 ( Des Plaines, Illinois) after Ray Kroc bought out the McDonalds brothers restaurants. That was the ninth McDonalds in the US. By 1958 McDonalds had sold its one hundred millionth hamburger! The hundreth restaraunt opened in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1953, Stanley Mason designed the golden arches of the restaurants. McDonald's sold nine items: Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, three types of soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and pies. In the early 1950's hamburgers were fifteen cents. By 1959 there were 228 McDonalds that all together generated $37.6 million in sales. The mascot for McDonalds was called Speedy, not Ronald McDonald.

-McDonald's brought about "franchising"
-Franchising was the joining of many restaurants under one set of "rules"
-Some of McDonald's rules including the selling of specific items for specific prices, like a hamburger, fries, and shake
-McDonald's also brought about imitators that wanted to be like it, such as Burger King
-The chain of McDonald's was brought about mainly because of the highway act. There were so many people that were traveling that needed "fast food" so the idea of McDonald's was the perfect solution.

- The McDonald's concept was introduced in Southern California by Dick and Mac McDonald of Manchester, New Hampshire



Historical analysis: McDonalds started out as a little town burger joint in California. By the 1950's it had turned into the most popular place to get 15 cent hamburgers. It started the "fast food era".


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